In response to new and revised auditor reporting standards that came into effect at the end of 2016, companies have stepped up their corporate disclosures. Auditor’s reports now contain more insightful information in the form of key audit matters (KAMs). The enhanced transparency enables investors to focus on critical areas including key accounting and audit issues in the financial statements.
A joint study findings from the collaboration between the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU), that analysed enhanced auditor’s reports (EARs) and annual reports of 180 entities listed on the Singapore Exchange and the views of over 270 audit committees and investors were released at the Singapore Accountancy and Audit Convention 2017 (SAAC 2017).
The SAAC 2017 discusses the growth opportunities for the accountancy sector by embracing technology and meeting stakeholders’ expectations for high quality audits and financial reporting.
The joint study’s key findings are:
- Management added more disclosures and in greater depth to the financial statements
- Investors were using EARs to identify significant accounting and audit issues, before reading through the financial statements
- Audit committees had more robust deliberation over key audit matters
- Audit committee were more forthcoming in their views on significant accounting matters
- Both audit committees and investors now have more confidence in audit quality
More information can be referred to the media release uploaded on ACRA website.
Source: ACRA, 3 October 2017